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Every year it seems that once Thanksgiving has been celebrated the remaining five weeks of the year fly by at a blurring pace. Our focus on the Parker Dentistry blog for the last quarter has been on 2018’s most prominent and popular trends. As a dental and wellness practice, we believe in sharing our passion for health and wellness with our all of our wonderful patients.

The more you know, the better equipped that you will be to make decisions that will have a positive impact on your health, wellness, and happiness. We’d like to take today to recap the top 12 health and wellness trends of 2018 before we switch gears and focus on 2019. Please feel free to click on the link provided with each trend below for more in depth information about each one.

This is a trend that is fortunately only gaining momentum! More of us are becoming more educated and aware of the impact that our personal decisions have on our planet. We are learning that simple changes and substitutions can make significant differences in our health and the health of our world.

Giving up single-use plastics, consuming less red meat, eating seasonally and locally, exercising outside, reading labels, and using eco-friendly household products are a few simple efforts we can all make.

According to TIME magazine the average individual checks his or her phone 46 times a day! Another report found that 81% of Americans spend time looking at their phone while in a face-to-face situation. While screen addiction is a real thing, many of us are becoming more conscious of the amount of time we spend on our devices.

While many of us have long cared about what we put inside of our bodies, what we put on our bodies has become equally as important. Fortunately, there is a growing number of fantastic cosmetic and wellness companies that are making eco-friendly, organic, and effective products. Brands like Burt’s Bees, Yes To, Pacifica, S.W. Basics, Fig & Yarrow, W3LL People, 100% Pure Beauty, MD SolarSciences, and ColorScience are leading the way.

Collagen is an essential component of our bones, skin, muscle tissue, tendons, ligaments, nails, hair, teeth, cartilage, vertebral discs, and blood vessels. After the age of 20, our bodies produce 1% less collagen each year. While collagen injections have been on the market for a while, this year saw a rise in the popularity of collagen supplements, powders, and bone broth.

Intermittent fasting has recently gained quite a bit of popularity as a pattern of eating. Studies have proven that intermittent fasting helps people lose weight, especially belly fat, and supports the body’s ability to repair, heal, and protect itself against chronic diseases.

Buying organic, sustainably-sourced, fair trade, cruelty-free, and vegan has never been more accessible and more affordable. Through our purchases we have the power to affect what is produced and how it is produced.

While we’ve always known that sleep is important, many of us don’t get enough quality sleep on a regular basis. Regular sleep deprivation has been linked to weight gain, anxiety, hormonal imbalance, cardiovascular disease, a weakened immune system, high blood pressure, and lapses in neurological functions.

Follow our Parker Wellness’s 10 tips to better sleep to get on trend and make sleep a top priority!

Say goodbye to fat-free dieting! A diet that is rich in monounsaturated fats (good fats) is very important for your mitochondria, the power plant in your cells that turns food and oxygen into energy. Good fats come from avocado, eggs, coconut oil, cheese, fatty fish, chia seeds, and nuts. These types of fats also help to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, and inflammation.

While meditation is an incredible practice to incorporate into your daily life, 2018 saw a rise in interest in shorter breathwork series. These shorter breathwork practices can be done anywhere and at any time and have helped relieve stress, anxiety, feelings of being overwhelmed, fatigue, and lack of concentration.

Moringa is one of the most powerful natural anti-inflammatories. While it has long been used in Eastern medicine, it has only recently made its way into Western wellness. Moringa has 3.5 times more calcium than cow’s milk, 9 times the protein of yogurt, 10 times more vitamin A than carrots, 15 times more potassium than bananas, 12 times the vitamin C of oranges, and 25 times more iron than spinach!

To achieve the ultimate health, wellness, and happiness we must continue to learn and incorporate habits, practices, and lifestyle choices that are conducive to our wellbeing and the wellbeing of the planet. At Parker Wellness, we want to share what we learn along the way with you. The journey is all of ours.

For over 3,000 years meditation has been used to help us connect to our sweet divine inner selves. Meditation helps calm and clear the mind, relax the body, and promote self-awareness and mindfulness, among many other benefits. While many of us are beginning to learn and incorporate the ancient practice of meditation into our daily or weekly routines, for a lot of us it is still a challenge to make the time and create the habit.

The trend of 2018 has shifted from long meditation to shorter breathwork series. Meditation is a very useful practice and one that we should all learn how to do. However, in moments of anxiety and stress, many of us are seeking a quicker and more accessible means of alleviating such uncomfortable and oftentimes debilitating responses.

There are hundreds of different breathing techniques. But learning how to breathe as a holistic approach to alleviating psychological and neurological ailments isn’t difficult by any means. When we aren’t intentionally focusing on our breath, most of us are naturally shallow and short breathers. Learning how to control, deepen, and elongate the breath is a simple practice that can have immense and immediate benefits.

What makes breathwork more accessible than a full meditation practice is that you can do it anytime and anywhere. It is a practice that can quickly quell stress and anxiety as well as other maladies such as headaches, insomnia, and depression. Coherent breathing also promotes an overall sense of wellbeing and can help lower your heart rate and blood pressure.

While there are classes and professional energy healers you can seek out to learn various breathing techniques, you can learn and practice simple breathing techniques easily on your own. One of the most basic breathing exercises is to breathe in through your nose for four counts and then breathe out through your nose for four counts. There are all different inhale, hold, and exhale configurations though.

The breath is one of the most powerful energies we possess. Breathwork goes hand and hand with meditation and yoga, but it can be used in shorter sequences when you find yourself in a situation or moment where you feel anxious, flustered, stressed, overwhelmed, or fatigued. It is also a discreet practice that can practiced literally anywhere!

Here are two videos links to get you started and a very useful link to six basic breathing exercises.

When did eating real food that wasn’t drenched in pesticides and preservatives become only accessible to those with a bit more cash flow? When did the deciding factor as to whether or not one could use products that were not only healthy and safe for the body but also for the environment become a matter of income?

We rapidly and almost unnoticeably transitioned into an instant-gratification and convenience-driven society. Bulk and bargain dominated for decades. Cheaper was better in the eyes and wallets for many, and this was also in part because the other options were far beyond financial reaches. So much so that Whole Foods even received the nickname “Whole Paycheck.”

Times are changing though! Thank goodness!

In 2018, a noticeable shift really started to take place in the health and wellness market. Ethically-sourced and environmentally-friendly products, both food and other, are becoming more affordable and more accessible as the demand for them has dramatically risen. Big box brands are really starting to get on board too.

As consumers, we hold the power. This is a realization that each and every one of us needs to have and embrace. As a whole, we want to know what’s in the food and drinks that we are consuming and what’s in the products that we are using. We want to know where things are coming from and that the sourcing of those ingredients aren’t contributing to environmental destruction, global warming, and harm to animals.

The shift that is starting to take place is that companies are being held more accountable and are being forced to be more transparent about the ingredients and materials that they are using to create the items that are seeking. We are shifting toward to an era where organic, ethically-sourced, and environmentally-friendly products are the norm for everyone regardless of income.

Intermittent fasting is not a diet, but rather a pattern of eating. It is an eating pattern that alternates between periods of eating and periods of not eating. While this approach to eating has recently gained popularity, it is not actually a new methodology. Back when we were hunter-gathers, it was not uncommon to go without food for several days. Because of this way of life in our human history, our bodies are actually perfectly adapted to function without consuming three meals a day every day.

In fact, through extensive studies it has been proven that patterned eating is actually very beneficial to multiple functions in the body. While intermittent fasting has helped people lose weight, especially belly fat, it also supports the body’s ability to repair, heal, and protect itself against chronic diseases and detrimental ailments.

The 16/8 Method: This method involves 16 hours of fasting accompanied by an 8-hour eating period. This is the most popular and easiest intermittent fasting method. If you eat your last meal at 6PM, you wouldn’t eat again until 10AM the next day.

Eat-Stop-Eat Method: This method involves 24-hours of fasting once or twice a week and the rest of the days eating regularly.

The 5:2 Method: This method involves eating regularly five days a week and two days a week only eating 500-600 calories.

Intermittent fasting is not another name for self-inflicted starvation, it is just tapping back into the way that our species used to eat. Intermittent fasting doesn’t have any dietary restrictions other than when you can eat. This approach is not for everyone in the same way that specific types of diets aren’t for everyone, but it is definitely worth a shot. Giving our bodies brief breaks from breaking down and processing food gives our bodies the chance to focus on other important functions such as cellular repair and detoxification.

Did you know that collagen is the most common protein in the human body? There are actually 28 different types of collagen within the body, but 90% of it is classified as Type 1. Collagen is the essential component of our bones, skin, muscle tissue, tendons, ligaments, nails, hair, teeth, cartilage, vertebral discs, and blood vessels.

Our bodies naturally produce collagen, however, as we age that natural production starts to decrease. According to Scientific American, after the age of 20 our bodies produce 1% less collagen in the skin each year. That’s why collagen injections became and have remained a very popular cosmetic procedure to plump up lips and areas of the face where a decrease in collagen has caused noticeable signs of aging.

What many of us probably haven’t realized yet though is that collagen supplementation is incredibly beneficial to so many other parts of our bodies. In 2018, collagen earned itself a new reputation as being one of the most prized superfood supplements. Collagen is one of the cleanest types of protein powder and has taken the supplement and wellness market by storm.

Adding collagen powder to your daily smoothie has benefits far beyond cosmetic. Collagen plays a critical role in bone health and can actually help prevent osteoporosis. It is also beneficial to your immune system and your body’s natural ability to heal after an injury or prolonged illness. This powerhouse protein helps to reduce inflammation, which we all know is responsible for the majority of chronic diseases. Collagen and the amino acids that are present in this protein aid in the reduction of anxiety, stress, and insomnia too.

Collagen helps protect and repair the intestinal wall, which is an important barrier against the acids our body produces to ensure the proper digestion of food. For those with “leaky gut syndrome” or chronic stomach and digestive issues, increasing your collagen intake can drastically improve your gut-health and quality of life. It should be noted, however, that you should always consult a medical professional prior to adding any new supplements to your diet as a potential means of treating a chronic ailment.

When it comes to your teeth, gum, and jaw health, collagen plays a major role, as well. Collagen is essential to the integrity of your teeth and the supportive tissue around them. Collagen will aid in maintaining your gum and jaw health, as well as helping to prevent your jowls from sagging as you age.

The richest source of collagen is bone broth, which is also a growing trend of 2018. Bone broth is all the rave these days and for very good reasons. As the number one source of collagen, regular consumption of this “miracle broth” has been linked to improved gut-health, healthier joints, younger looking skin, tissue regeneration, and improved brain and heart health, among many other benefits. Bone broth is also packed with 17 different amino acids.

If you are now interested in adding more collagen to your diet, as we would imagine you would be after reading this long list of health and wellness benefits, it is important to seek out the highest quality collagen powders and supplements and bone broth distributors. This goes for any type of supplements that you want to add to your daily routine.

We did some research for you and here are some highly reviewed brands to check out: